A Level Literature in English: Paper 3 - Shakespeare and Drama — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, in the style and at the standard of the examination. They are not reproduced past-paper questions — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

Related: Paper 3 – Shakespeare and Drama study guide

---

Section A

1. State how Paper 3 is divided into sections, and give the timing and total marks for the whole paper. [3]

2. On a given set text, candidates choose between two types of question. Name and briefly describe each. [2]

Section B

3. State which assessment objective is tested on Papers 3 and 4 but not on Papers 1 and 2, and explain in your own words what it requires. [3]

4. Explain the difference between what AO3 requires and what AO5 requires, since candidates often confuse the two. [4]

5. A student’s Paper 3 answer analyses a play’s use of a soliloquy (AO2), gives their own view of its effect (AO3), and expresses that view in a clear, well-structured paragraph (AO4), but never mentions how critics or other readers have interpreted the scene. Explain which assessment objective this answer is missing, and suggest what the student should add. [4]

6. Explain why Paper 3 cannot be taken by an AS-Level-only candidate, and state when a staged A Level candidate typically sits it. [3]

7. Explain why the set texts studied for Paper 3 can change between examination series, and why this matters for revision. [2]

8. Both Paper 1’s drama section and Paper 3’s Section B examine drama, using the same close-reading and analytical skills. Explain the key difference in how the two are assessed. [3]

---

Answers

1. Paper 3 is divided into two sections [1]. The whole paper is 2 hours long and worth 50 marks in total [1], split into Section A: Shakespeare (25 marks) and Section B: Drama (25 marks) [1].

2. (a) An essay question, answered from knowledge of the whole set text, with no extract printed on the paper [1]. (b) A passage-based question, which responds specifically to an extract from the set text that is printed on the exam paper [1].

3. AO5 – Evaluation of opinion [1]. It requires candidates to discuss and evaluate varying opinions and interpretations of a literary text [1] – engaging with how others (critics, alternative readings, different performance traditions) have read the text, rather than only presenting the candidate’s own view [1].

4. AO3 rewards the candidate’s own informed, independent opinion and interpretation of the text [1] [1]. AO5 rewards discussing and evaluating other people’s opinions and interpretations, alongside or against the candidate’s own [1] [1]. A strong Paper 3 answer therefore needs both: an independent view that satisfies AO3, positioned against how the text has been, or could be, read differently by others to satisfy AO5.

5. The answer is missing AO5 [1]. It analyses form and language (AO2), gives a personal view (AO3), and communicates that view clearly (AO4), but never discusses how the play or scene has been interpreted differently by other readers or critics, which is specifically what AO5 requires [1] [1]. The student should add a reference to at least one alternative critical reading or performance interpretation of the same scene, and explain how their own view compares to it [1].

6. Paper 3, along with Paper 4, is exclusive to the full A Level route, because both test AO5, an assessment objective the AS Level qualification does not assess [1] [1]. A staged A Level candidate sits Papers 3 and 4 only in their second year, once the AS Level papers (1 and 2) are already complete [1].

7. Set texts rotate by examination series [1], so candidates and teachers must always confirm the current list for the specific year they are sitting the exam, rather than assuming the texts studied in a previous year’s series still apply [1].

8. Both require the same close-reading and analytical skills tested by AO1-AO4 [1]. The key difference is that Paper 1’s drama section is assessed on AO1-AO4 only, so a Paper 1 answer that stays entirely within the candidate’s own reading is complete [1], whereas a Paper 3 Section B answer additionally needs AO5 – awareness of how the play has been interpreted differently by other readers or critics – since the AS-Level skills, while necessary, are not sufficient on their own at this level [1].

---

Where marks are usually lost

• Treating AO5 as simply another personal opinion, rather than genuine engagement with someone else’s reading of the text.
• Writing an essay-style response to a passage-based (b) question while ignoring the extract actually printed on the paper.
• Assuming a previous year’s set texts are still current, without checking the specification for the series actually being sat.
• Forgetting that Papers 3 and 4 are full-A-Level-only and cannot form part of an AS-Level-only route.
• Analysing a scene’s language and structure skilfully throughout an essay, but never once referencing how it has been read or performed differently by others.

Approaching Paper 3 questions

Because AO5 is the objective candidates are least practised in by the time they reach Paper 3, the safest technique is to build it in deliberately rather than hoping it emerges naturally: after making an analytical point (AO2) and stating a personal view of its effect (AO3), add a sentence naming how another reading, critical tradition or stage production has treated the same moment differently, and briefly weigh that reading against the candidate’s own. Repeating this pattern two or three times across an essay, rather than saving all AO5 material for a single paragraph at the end, tends to score more highly, since it shows the evaluation of opinion running through the whole response rather than bolted on as an afterthought.